PLEASURE PALACE

Marriage doesn't work, people are selfish and cranky, fate is ruthless—and Thurm is watching.

In 15 stories dated from 1979 to 2021, arranged in not-quite-chronological order, Thurm's unsparing, ironic sensibility and killer eye for detail fall on couples and families in varying degrees of disrepair. Almost every significant character is divorced or heading for a breakup, widowed, or dumped on the way to the altar. The "pleasure palace" of the title story is a gigantic, luxurious master bath planned by a young couple just before they receive the cancer diagnosis that will make it a room for one. The two newest stories, appearing for the first time here, are among the bleakest. “Banished” (2021) shows the terrible cruelty of a grown daughter to her widowed father when he brings his new girlfriend to her 40th birthday party. In “End. of. Story.” (2020) it's not enough for the narrator to have a father with dementia and a mother going blind—his long-loved wife announces she's having an affair, and even his therapist is more concerned with her own problems than his. The last line of this story, and indeed the whole book, will shock you as much as if it really happened. Though her view of things is almost unremittingly dark, Thurm is always ready with a wisecrack to take the edge off. In "Personal Correspondence," a newly single, barely coping young father responds to a poster in the laundry room from a grad student in his building who offers to write letters for other people, thank-you notes and the like. As this situation heaps one humiliation after another on the protagonist, who seems to be a literary agent, he meets with a client. Having informed him that “Your color’s ghastly and there are these big pouches under your eyes,” she goes on to ask him to choose between her ideas for her next book. " 'So,' Kristine said, 'Ritalin or incest, what do you think?' ”

How about we stop treating each other like this so this excellent author can write happier stories?